The iconic £21.7-million Orbit tower, which is being built alongside London's 2012 Olympic stadium, will include steel produced in South Africa, the ArcelorMittal group confirmed on Thursday.
The 114.5-m-tall steel structure is being funded primarily by the steelmaker, which is contributing some £19-million, with the London Development Agency funding the balance.
Chairperson and CEO Lakshmi Mittal said the Orbit, an artistic collaboration between Indian-born sculptor Anish Kapoor and renowned designer Cecil Balmond, will draw in material from the Luxembourg-domiciled group's operations worldwide.
Besides South African steel, the 2 200 t structure would include steel from Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, as well as North and South America.
Addressing media in Luxembourg, group management board member Michel Wurth said the company's participation as the official steel supplier to the Olympics formed part of its aspiration to reposition the material as a twenty-first-century product.
He noted that ArcelorMittal had expressly reversed the current global recycled-to-virgin steel ratio deployed in the project, with 60% of the material arising from its less energy- and resource-intensive scrap-using mills.
Head of brand worldwide Ian Louden said the structure had already reached 70 m in height and would officially be handed over as a "gift" to the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) in March next year.
The OPLC was in the process of evaluating bids from potential operators, which would run the attraction during the games and into the future.
The Orbit tower formed part of various urban renewable ventures being pursued by the OPLC for the east part of London and was viewed as having the potential to sustain interest in an area that had hitherto not been perceived as a tourist destination.

It is estimated that Orbit could attract up to one-million yearly visitations to what will be called the the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
The ArcelorMittal Orbit, which could accomodate 5 000 visitors a day, will open in May 2012 and during the 2012 Games it will be a ticketed visitor attraction. In November 2012, it will be closed for adaptation as a more permanent feature, which will reopen in May 2013.
It will also be one of a number of visitor attractions owned by the OPLC in the park, which includes the Olympic stadium and aquatics centre and is surrounded by Westfield Stratford City.
The structure will include two observation floors, one at 80 m to include exhibitions, the other at 76 m a flexible space for functions and special events. The observation floors will contain a café area and there will be a gift shop on the ground level.
Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter